In honor of which, I challenge you to list which of the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books you’ve read.
I’ll start. Here are the ones I’ve read:
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Cujo by Stephen King
- The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Native Son by Richard Wright
- Carrie by Stephen King
- The Dead Zone by Stephen King
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
- Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
- Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Okay, over to you. But first, three questions: One, why would anyone get upset with Where’s Waldo? Two*, why would I, a grown man, admit to having read a Where’s Waldo book? Three, where are the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud? Those books have caused more trouble, suffering, and misery than all 100 “most frequently challenged books” put together.
*Answer to question # 2: to show you I’m being honest with you . . .
Credit where credit’s due: got the idea from Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly.